1. Technical Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to communication systems and more particularly to data transfers within such systems.
2. Description of Related Art
Today's digital world is comprised of a continuous series of digital data transfers. Electronic equipment from toasters to computers, from coffee makers to satellite equipment, from televisions to Internet and/or telephone infrastructure equipment, et cetera, communicate (i.e., transmit and/or receive) digital data as their primary function or as part of their service. In any event, almost every piece of electronic equipment built today transmits and/or receives digital data, which may be digitized audio, digitized video and/or digitized alpha numeric information (i.e., text).
Depending on the type of electronic equipment, speed of the data transfer is of little importance or of great importance. For example, in computers, computer networks, telecommunication equipment, Internet equipment, local area network equipment, wide area network equipment, etc. speed of data transfers is of great importance since the faster the data can be transferred, the more users and/or features the system can support.
As is known, data transfers may occur through the air as RF transmissions, over twisted copper wires, over coaxial cables, and/or over fiber optic lines. As is further known, data may be transmitted in a serial manner, in a parallel manner, or in a parallel/serial manner over any of these data transmission mediums. Many standards have been generated to prescribe the manner in which data is transmitted over the various data transition mediums. For example, there are many versions of Ethernet, each of which prescribe a data rate, a serial/parallel transmission format, et cetera. Other standards, such as SONET, also prescribe various data rates and/or various serial/parallel data transmission formats.
As is further known, integrated circuits (IC) are typically used to provide an electrical device (e.g., computer, Internet equipment, telecommunication equipment, et cetera) with the appropriate interface (i.e., standard compliant data transfer circuitry). Such an integrated circuit is generally referred to as an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC). As is further known, ASICs are designed and fabricated to perform a specific function or functions of an application (e.g., perform functions relating to a particular data transfer protocol), but have little utility outside the particular application. As such, for different applications, different ASICs are needed. As is also known, the design and fabrication of an ASIC is very expensive and time consuming.
Therefore, a need exists for a data transfer interface that is especially useful for multiple high-speed serial/de-serial interfaces.